Greetings from the Floor,
Four bills were passed off the House floor this week. HF 14 allows for General Obligation bonds to be sold in the amount of $35 million for the Rural Finance Authority. The Rural Finance Authority would use the bond funding to partner with local lenders to offer low interest agricultural loans for purposes such as loan restructuring, loans to new farmers and livestock expansion. This is a great program for the agricultural economy, and existing funds in the Rural Finance Authority expired at the end of 2016. I supported the bill; however, I find it troubling that this $35 million bond authorization was passed outside of a larger Bonding Bill. Projects all around Minnesota need state bonding dollars to be completed. We are now two years behind in terms of infrastructure projects around the state being delayed and the backlog of bonding needs growing. The governor and Senate have both shown initiative to pass a large Bonding Bill now. It’s time for the House to do the same.
HF 113 would allow Xcel Energy to build a natural gas plant without the normal approval process by the Public Utilities Commission (PUC). Xcel plans to retire two coal-burning units in Sherburne County and replace them with a natural gas plant. Xcel has already begun the process for approval of the plant by the PUC, and the PUC has given approval so far. Also, the coal units are scheduled to retire in 2023 and 2026. The normal PUC process typically takes 1-2 years. I did not vote for HF 113 as I see this as setting a bad precedent of energy projects going around the PUC approval process.
HF 234 pertains to electric co-operatives, municipal utilities and net metering. Net metering was established in 2013 to allow property owners to install solar or wind energy infrastructure with a capacity of less than 40 kW on their own property, and realize any savings in energy costs from these installations. If these installations generate more energy than what the property owner uses, the energy is put back into the grid and they are paid by the utility for the extra energy generation. In 2015, legislation was passed to allow electric co-ops and municipal utilities to charge net metering customers fees to cover fixed costs. The average fee is $11.75 per month. HF 234 would mandate that co-op and municipal utility customers who have disputes over these fees to take them up with the co-op or municipal utility; it takes away the opportunity for customers to take their disputes to the Public Utility Commission. An amendment was added to the bill that provides for mediation in these fee disputes if either party requests it, and calls for the PUC to investigate the compliance of these fees with state law by the end of 2017 (and mandates that these fees must be reset if they’re found to be not compliant with state law). I initially did not like the idea of people having no recourse for fee disputes outside of the entity imposing the fee; however, the amendment does provide additional options for fee disputes and I did support the bill.
HF 235 would dissolve the Renewable Development Fund (RDF) and replace it with an Energy Fund. The existing RDF is funded by Xcel Energy from fees the utility pays for storage of nuclear waste casks at Prairie Island and Monticello (the new Energy Fund would continue to be funded through the same source). The money from the RDF has been used for over twenty years to promote renewable energy in Minnesota, while the Energy Fund would have no set uses. A new use of the RDF was established in 2014 for the Made in Minnesota solar program; this program offers rebates to homeowners and small businesses that install solar panels manufactured in Minnesota. Under HF 235, the Made in Minnesota program would be terminated. An amendment was adopted to specify what the Energy Fund’s uses are and phases out the Xcel payments to the fund as would naturally occur (based on the decreasing number of casks Xcel stores at Prairie Island and Monticello). I did not vote for the bill as I think it’s important to keep the existing fund intact for renewable energy development, and to expand solar energy in Minnesota.
Thank You for the Opportunity to Serve,
Ben